The Warm Homes Plan, explained
You cannot apply for “the Warm Homes Plan” directly, because it is not a product, it is the £15bn government programme that three separate schemes sit under. All three are now open in some form. The third, a low-interest loan scheme, launched on 26 to 27 October 2026 with ten lenders named on GOV.UK. You apply to a lender, not to the government, and each lender's product is at its own stage.
Updated 28 October 2026 · written by the Clearline guidance team · 8 min read
The short answer
The Warm Homes Plan is a £15 billion government programme, published in January 2026, aiming to upgrade 5 million homes by 2030. It is not something a homeowner fills in a form for. Underneath it sit three separate, specific schemes, each with its own eligibility and its own application route: the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (a fixed grant, live and universal), the Warm Homes: Local Grant (fully funded work for lower-income households, live and means-tested) and the Warm Homes Loan Scheme (a government-subsidised low-interest loan, launched on 26 to 27 October 2026 and applied for through ten named lenders). If a page or an advert tells you to “apply for the Warm Homes Plan”, it means one of these three.
Budget update: Boiler Upgrade Scheme and Warm Homes Loan
The Budget document says the government has launched the Warm Homes Loan Scheme and will hold the Boiler Upgrade Scheme at £400 million in 2027-28, rising broadly in line with inflation after that, as announced in the 28 October 2026 Budget. It also saves £1 billion of capital grant from the Warm Homes Plan without saying which parts of the Plan carry the saving. Source: HM Treasury, Budget 2026 document (Red Book), paragraph 4.36.
| Scheme | What it is | Who it's for | Status, checked 28 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
Boiler Upgrade Scheme | A fixed grant, £7,500 standard (£9,000 for off-gas homes replacing an oil or LPG system, until 31 March 2027), deducted from the quote for a heat pump | Any property owner in England or Wales, no income test | Live. Full detail in our Boiler Upgrade Scheme guide |
Warm Homes: Local Grant | Fully funded insulation, an air source heat pump where suitable, and solar panels, at no cost to the occupant | England only, EPC D to G, income £36,000 or less, or a qualifying postcode or benefit | Live. Full detail in our Local Grant guide |
Warm Homes Loan Scheme | A government grant paid to participating lenders so they can cut the interest rate on a loan by up to 5 percentage points off their own rate | Owner-occupiers and private landlords of UK homes; no income test | Launched 26 to 27 October 2026. GOV.UK names ten lenders and you apply to a lender, not to the government. See our Warm Homes Loan page and how to apply |
Checked against GOV.UK on 28 October 2026. Rules, funding rounds and scheme status change; confirm the current position before relying on any of the three.
Where the £15 billion actually goes
The Warm Homes Plan was published in January 2026 as a spending-review-period commitment, aiming to upgrade 5 million homes by 2030 through a mix of grants, a subsidised loan product, and continued funding for the existing Boiler Upgrade Scheme. It replaces the supplier-obligation model that funded home energy upgrades for over a decade: the Energy Company Obligation, in its current ECO4 form, closes on 31 December 2026, and the government has stated there is no direct like-for-like successor obligation on suppliers. What follows it is this grant-and-loan model instead, funded by government rather than added to supplier bills.
The gap between ECO4 and a broader replacement
ECO4 closes 31 December 2026. The Warm Homes Plan is already funding the Boiler Upgrade Scheme and the Local Grant today, but a broader supplier-style funding stream to fully replace ECO4's scale is not expected before April 2027. If you were relying on an ECO-funded route specifically, get your application in well before the December close rather than assuming a direct replacement lands on 1 January.
What's genuinely live today
Two of the three mechanisms were open before the loan scheme launched. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme has been running since 2022 and pays a fixed £7,500 (£9,000 for an off-gas home replacing an oil or LPG system, until 31 March 2027) towards an air source or ground source heat pump, with no income test and no EPC condition. The Warm Homes: Local Grant is newer and works differently: it is means-tested, delivered through your local council rather than a national voucher, and covers insulation, a heat pump where suitable, and solar panels together, fully funded for households that qualify. Both have their own dedicated guide linked in the table above, because the eligibility rules genuinely differ and conflating them leads people to check the wrong criteria.
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The loan scheme: launched on 26 to 27 October 2026
The Warm Homes Loan Scheme is the last piece of the Plan to arrive. The mechanism is a government grant of up to 20% of a loan's value, paid to an FCA-authorised lender, which has to pass it on as a lower interest rate: up to 5 percentage points off the lender's own rate for a similar loan, on terms of three years or more. It is not a 5% loan and it is not 0% for everyone. Lenders set the actual rates, and GOV.UK publishes none. Under the Scheme Rules the caps are £15,000 for solar, £15,000 for a battery and £20,000 for an air-to-water heat pump. Current status is tracked on the Warm Homes Loan Scheme page.
GOV.UK's lenders page, checked 28 October 2026, names ten lenders: HomeServe Finance, Hometree Finance, The Money Co-Op, Propensio, Secure Trust Bank, Selina Finance, South Manchester Credit Union, Sunsave Energy, Tandem Bank and This Bank. Applications for the first lender window closed on 29 July 2026, and a further window is expected later in 2026 for onboarding in early 2027, so the list is expected to grow. £300 million of grant capital is committed to Phase 1, out of the wider £2 billion of government support the Plan sets out for the loan offer. Our lenders guide says what is known about each lender's route, and how to apply covers the steps in order.
Launched, but check each lender
The scheme launched on 26 to 27 October 2026: HM Treasury marked 26 October and the DESNZ factsheet is dated 27 October. GOV.UK shows no portal, no waiting list and no opening date, so you apply to one of the ten lenders. When we checked on 28 October only two lender pages could be opened, and they described different routes: Sunsave a working online journey, Tandem Bank applications through approved installation firms. Do not assume a given lender is open until its own page says so. The 0% VAT on installation (see our VAT on solar and batteries guide) is a separate relief with its own 31 March 2027 end.
How the three schemes fit together
Read as a stack rather than three unrelated grants, the picture is simpler. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is the universal, no-income-test route to £7,500 off a heat pump, available to almost anyone who owns the property. The Local Grant sits below it for households on a lower income or in a lower-income postcode, and goes further, covering insulation and solar as well as a heat pump, fully funded rather than partially grant-funded. The Loan Scheme, now launched, is aimed at everyone in between: owner-occupiers who do not qualify for the Local Grant's means test but would rather borrow at a subsidised rate than pay upfront, for solar, battery or heat pump work the Boiler Upgrade Scheme's fixed grant does not fully cover.
None of the three require you to go through a single national portal. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme's voucher is applied for on your behalf as part of an installation, the Local Grant is applied for directly through GOV.UK and administered by your local council, and the Loan Scheme runs through individual participating lenders: GOV.UK says you do not apply to the government. Our solar panel grants and funding guide covers the wider funding picture, including routes this page does not, such as the Smart Export Guarantee.
Which one should you actually look at first
Start with your income and your EPC rating, not with the scheme names. If your household income is £36,000 or less, or you live in a lower-income postcode, or someone in your home receives a qualifying benefit, and your EPC sits between D and G, check the Warm Homes: Local Grant first: it is fully funded and covers more than a heat pump alone. If none of that applies but you are replacing a fossil fuel heating system with a heat pump, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme's fixed £7,500 is available regardless of income and is the quicker, simpler route. If you are outside both, solar or a battery specifically, and would rather spread the cost at a subsidised rate than pay upfront, the Loan Scheme is the one to look at, and you apply through a lender. Our solar and battery loan guide covers the caps.
- Lower income or a qualifying postcode, EPC D to G: start with the Warm Homes: Local Grant.
- Any income, replacing a fossil fuel heating system with a heat pump: start with the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
- Solar or a battery, no income test: the Warm Homes Loan Scheme is open through its ten named lenders. See how to apply and, if you are unsure which scheme you are thinking of, Warm Home Discount vs Warm Homes Loan.
- 0% VAT on installation runs to 31 March 2027 regardless of which scheme, or none, you use, and does not depend on any of the three being live.
A free design and quote, on video, or by phone if you prefer, can confirm which of these, if any, applies to your property and your circumstances. It is a quote for the work only: we do not offer or arrange finance, and any loan is a separate agreement with a lender.
Get my free quote →Scheme status, funding figures and dates were checked directly against GOV.UK on 25 September 2026 and re-checked for the loan scheme on 28 October 2026. Government schemes are reviewed and funding rounds open and close; confirm the current position before applying.
Warm Homes Plan questions, answered
Can I apply for the Warm Homes Plan directly?
No. The Warm Homes Plan is the £15bn government programme, not a product you apply to. You apply to one of the schemes underneath it: the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, the Warm Homes: Local Grant, or the Warm Homes Loan Scheme, which you apply for through one of its participating lenders.
Is the Warm Homes Loan Scheme open for applications yet?
The scheme launched on 26 to 27 October 2026 and GOV.UK names ten lenders you can apply to. There is no government portal or opening date, and lender products are at different stages: when we checked on 28 October, only two lender pages could be opened. Check the lender's own page before assuming it is taking applications. See how to apply and the lenders guide.
What's the difference between the Local Grant and the Boiler Upgrade Scheme?
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is a fixed grant, universal and not means-tested, that only covers heat pump and biomass boiler installs. The Warm Homes: Local Grant is means-tested, covers insulation, a heat pump where suitable and solar panels together, and is fully funded rather than a fixed contribution, for households in England that meet the income or postcode criteria.
Does the Warm Homes Plan cover solar panels?
Yes, in two ways. The Warm Homes: Local Grant can fund solar for qualifying lower-income households in England. The Warm Homes Loan Scheme can fund up to £15,000 for solar panels, and up to £15,000 for a battery, for owner-occupiers and private landlords (see our solar and battery loan guide). Solar is not part of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which is heat-pump and biomass-boiler only.
What happens when ECO4 ends in December 2026?
ECO4, the existing supplier obligation scheme, closes on 31 December 2026 with no direct like-for-like successor confirmed. The Warm Homes Plan's broader grant and loan funding is expected to take over that role, but a funding stream matching ECO4's scale is not expected to be in place before April 2027, which is a real gap worth planning around rather than assuming away.
Does the Warm Homes Plan apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?
The Plan is framed as UK-wide, but the schemes underneath it are not identical everywhere. The Boiler Upgrade Scheme and the Warm Homes: Local Grant both apply to England (the Boiler Upgrade Scheme also covers Wales); Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own devolved schemes, such as Home Energy Scotland, funded through a separate allocation rather than through these England-specific routes directly. The Warm Homes Loan Scheme is the exception: it covers any domestic property in the UK, including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and you apply through a participating lender.
See the numbers next: Duracell Dura16, installed, or the battery storage guide.
Figures and specifications in this guide are sourced below and were checked on the date shown. Rates and product specifications change; we confirm the current picture on your free design call.
Sources
- GOV.UK, Warm Homes Loan Scheme: apply to participate as a lender (Phase 1), status and dates, last updated 17 September 2026, checked 28 October 2026 gov.uk
- GOV.UK, Warm Homes: Local Grant guidance for local authorities, scheme description and funding, checked 25 September 2026 gov.uk
- Energy Saving Trust, what the Warm Homes Plan means for you: £15bn scale, 5 million homes by 2030 ambition energysavingtrust.org.uk
- Ofgem, ECO4 delivery guidance: scheme end date 31 December 2026 ofgem.gov.uk
- GOV.UK, Boiler Upgrade Scheme: what you can get, grant amounts, checked 25 September 2026 gov.uk
- GOV.UK, Warm Homes Loan Scheme: overview, lenders and apply pages, accessed 28 October 2026 gov.uk/warm-homes-loan-scheme
- DESNZ, Warm Homes Loan Scheme: Factsheet, 27 October 2026, accessed 28 October 2026 gov.uk
- HM Treasury, Everyday fixes to make life easier for millions of Britons, 26 October 2026 (launch of the loan scheme), accessed 28 October 2026 gov.uk
- DESNZ, Warm Homes Loan Scheme Rules, version 3, September 2026: caps, grant mechanism and lender requirements, accessed 28 October 2026 assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
- HM Treasury, Budget 2026 document (Red Book), accessed 28 October 2026 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/budget-2026-document/budget-2026-html
Read next
How to apply for the Warm Homes Loan: step by step, and when it starts
Apply to a lender, not government. The steps in order, what the quote must show, and what to keep.
Read the guide →Warm Homes Loan lenders: the ten named by GOV.UK, and what is known about each
The ten lenders on GOV.UK, how each takes applications where that is known, and a dated log of changes.
Read the guide →Warm Homes: Local Grant, who qualifies and how to apply
Fully funded insulation, a heat pump and solar, for households that qualify. Council cost caps apply.
Read the guide →